Deteriorations block traffic

Santo Domingo, DR
The pedestrian bridge on Charles de Gaulle Avenue in Santo Domingo Norte continues to be out of service due to the deterioration of the structure for approximately four years, without the authorities intervening to rebuild it.

Pedestrian bridges are built to protect the lives of children and adults when crossing a highway or a road with high vehicular traffic. However, this one represents the opposite due to the enormous hole that affects its structure and pedestrian traffic, forcing people to risk their lives crossing the road.

A school, a park, and a sports field are the closest establishments to the bridge, which means that students and athletes are most affected by the poor conditions of the structure are students and athletes, who have to cross the highway between vehicles at speeds of more than 30 kilometers per hour.

Even though this newspaper published several reports on January 24 and February 22 of this year showing the deterioration, residents reported not having seen any Ministry of Public Works brigade approaching the place.

“When a boy goes over there, they will fix it, or when it falls on a truck that crosses there, they will fix it,” said Rafael Martínez, one of the residents of the area, who explained that after the fences were put up more than two years ago to prohibit pedestrian access to the structure, the authorities “have not gone back over there.”

Daniel López, who is a physical education teacher at the school next to the bridge, indicated that the educational center has already exhausted several appeals with the authorities to solve the problem, of which they are directly affected due to the number of students who must travel along the highway, but their requests have not been met.

In addition to safeguarding the students’ life, López stated that the repair of the bridge would avoid mishaps and accidents since, so far this year, two people have been run over by motorized vehicles traveling on the highway.

The poor condition of the bridge occurred 12 years after it was inaugurated in 2011, during the administration of Francisco Fernandez as mayor, a work that the community spent years demanding its construction, and now they are in the same situation of claims for its repair.

The pedestrian bridge, located on the Charles de Gaulle highway near the Sabana Perdida sector of Santo Domingo Norte, has been closed due to its severe deterioration for several years, to the point that it has a massive hole in the middle.